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Canton 2-year-old located and safe after day-long search

Police are searching for 2-year-old Chloe Russell in Canton, Ill. Russell was last seen at 6:30 a.m. Thursday morning.
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Police are searching for 2-year-old Chloe Russell in Canton. She was last seen at 6:30 a.m. Thursday morning.

Canton Police say Chloe Russell has been found alive after a day-long multi-agency search.

She was found in an upstairs closet in her home when the state police re-searched her house for further leads. She was checked out at Graham Hospital and released to her family after she was found to be in good health.

Canton Police Chief Mike Eveland commended the efforts to find Russell through word-of-mouth and social media.

“It was heartening to see the community come together on a moment’s notice to volunteer to help locate Chloe,” said Eveland in a statement on the Canton Police Department's Facebook page. “Just the idea that everyone seemed willing to drop everything to walk the neighborhood to help us find her. That, and the many phone calls we received from people wanting to give us even the smallest information that could help us.”

The search saw Canton Police working alongside the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Illinois State Police, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, the Canton Fire Department and other local police agencies. Police used drones, airplanes and K-9 units to sweep the 500 block of Custer Place.

Eveland said Russell's family fully cooperated with authorities, and there's no evidence of criminal activity on anyone's behalf.

“The only important part of yesterday’s events is that that little girl was found safe,” said Mayor Kent McDowell in the statement. He commended the public safety and public works departments that assisted with the search, as well as the mayors of Lewistown and Farmington who reached out.

"Seeing the community come together in a crisis for this little girl showed the positive aspects of living in a small midwestern community like ours," McDowell said.

Collin Schopp is a reporter at WCBU. He joined the station in 2022.